


The Flowers Look Great Today

by ohpoppycock



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara is an innocent cinnamon roll, Chara is very sad, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Other, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-07-18 11:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7313722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohpoppycock/pseuds/ohpoppycock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey, Asriel, you there?"<br/>"Yeah."<br/>"The flowers look great today."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1: Memories

  
  
The mountain was moderately sized, covered in boulders of various sizes. It was hard for the thirteen-year-old child to navigate their way up the summit. They were determined to make it.  
  
It wasn't cold or warm, but of a middle ground that was tolerable. Chara took a break, wiping the sweat off their face. They seized a bottle of water from their bag and downed it quickly. They sat for a little while longer, the breeze sweeping across their hair and face, cooling and drying their sweat.  
  
Chara looked up the mountain. They were half-way up already. How long had it been, an hour maybe? They were making good time. If they managed to get to the top before two-thirty their dad wouldn't know where Chara went. Not that he cared anyway.  
  
Chara huffed as they pulled themselves up. Wearing sweatpants and a black sweater probably weren't one of the best choices they've made. They looked around, and after realizing no one would see them, peeled off the sweater.  
  
They looked down at the binder. For a moment they felt a pang of dysphoria, but it quickly disappeared. After today, it wouldn't matter.  
  
Chara tied the sweater around their waist and continued hiking.  


* * *

  
  
Chara wiped the sweat off their brow for the umpteenth time during the hike. They stood at the entrance to the cave, the stalagmites and stalactites looking menacing. Along with the vines woven around every single stone pillar and formation. They turned and looked at the sky, appreciating it's beauty one last time.  
  
They approached the chasm in the ground. They looked down into its depths, an odd feeling rising in their throat. Their stomach tied into knots, but another feeling rose that they could not describe nor understand.  
  
Chara threw on their sweater and rolled up the sleeves. They took a step forward, one of the vines catching on their foot. They tripped, and fell.  
  
In a flash, memories came.  
  
_"Sweetie, no matter what you are, I could never hate you. Your father, on the other hand, doesn't understand," She placed a shaky kiss on their head, "You will always be my beautiful child." Their mother began to cough profusely._  
  
_"Mom-" They exclaimed._  
  
_"Listen, my little flower. You father won't react well, but you need to tell him. You know I don't have much time left," She took a deep breath, "I won't always be there for you. I can't watch you get married to a beautiful young man or woman or whatever else. I can't watch you graduate. I can't..."_  
  
_"Mom," Chara's voiced wavered. Their eyes watery, "I promise you'll be there. You can't leave me. I-"_  
  
_"Chara, you can't make promises you can't keep. I guess I will be with you," she raised her hand while Chara still held it and pointed to their heart, In there. While I can't be with you in the flesh, I'll be with you in spirit."_  
  
_They tried to speak, but no words came out. They shut their mouth, lip quivering. They sobbed, laying their head onto their mother's chest. Thier mother said nothing and just pet their hair. The heart monitor beat slower. "Chara, Chara look at me." The child rose their head. "I love you very, very much. You know that, right? I always will."_  
  
_Chara gripped her hand tighter, "Yes I-I do. I love you too mom. I... mom?" Their mother's hand fell limp. The heart monitor released one long beep._  
  
_"MOM!" They screamed. Doctors rushed into the room. The pulled the screaming child away as they struggled and screamed. Chara watched as they tried to revive her before they stopped._  
  
_"Deceased at 8:46 pm."_  
  
_Their voiced failed them. They fell limp in the doctor's arms. Chara looked up at them. The two doctors that held the shaking child had teary eyes. They looked back at the room where their mother was. She couldn't be dead, could she? No, she had to be alive!_  
  
_Chara broke away from the two restraining them. Both just stood, the woman covering her mouth as she cried. The other woman fiddled her thumbs. Chara weaved through the doctors, grabbing their mother's hand again. "Mom please don't leave me," They pleaded, "Mom please, mom..."_  
  
_Again they laid their head on her chest. But there was no heartbeat. There was no steady rise and fall. No hand to pet their hair, no one to call them little flower._

_No... mom..._

_They were again dragged away, but this time didn't fight it. They watched as the doctors laid a sheet over their mother face._

In a flash, there was a burning. A red light began to glow from their chest. They knew that their mother wouldn't want them to throw their life away.

Time felt like it slowed. Chara looked down to see the floor approaching. They glared as if they were daring the rocky bottom to kill them. Large waves of determination and love flowed from them.

They blacked out.

* * *

The Royal Scientist had a boring job. Sure it was fun at points, but now he had nothing to do.

Gaster's computer monitor blinked. He swung his legs off the table and cleared away some papers to see his keyboard. He was met with a flash of red before a map of the Underground appeared. The Ruins were red.

Curious, he clicked onto the Ruins.

"Holy shit." Gaster rubbed his eyes and looked at the screen again. High levels of determination stared him in the face. Even humans had determination but not this much. Whatever this was-- human or otherwise-- could be a threat.

He observed the levels more.

His job just got a whole lot more interesting.


	2. Chapter 2: A New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahohoho. AhoooHOOOO CHARA MY POOR BAB.

Slowly, they began to feel things.  
  
The burning had subsided. They felt cold, and wind blowing. Everything hurt, but they were alive. Heart was beating, lungs were working. Everything in perfect order.  
  
Chara opened their eyes. They were in another cave, and there was a purple door at the end. First, they examined themselves.  
  
A heart-shaped hole was burned in their sweater. However, their binder was fine. They were coveted in bruises and cuts. Their hands were numb with pain, and so were their legs. They tried to move, but stopped when pain shot through them.  
  
They made a loud groan. Chara glared down at themselves. They couldn't move or speak at the moment. What could they do?  
  
They sobbed. They were in pain, alone, and alive. Whether they were tears of joy or sadness they flowed.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
The kept sobbing. Why couldn't they have died in the fall?  
  
"Oh, are you alright?" And they suddenly realized someone was standing infront of them with a kind look in their eye.  "Here, let me help you up."  
  
And Chara expected pain, but when they got up, they felt warm. He had an arm around your waist, golden smoke coming from the spaces in between his paws. "What's your name?"  
  
They body felt so much better. They still felt queasy and their throat felt scratched, but their skin and bones felt qarm and they watched as bruises disappeared. "Chara."  
  
They felt better when they saw the other smile. "Chara? That's a lovely name. My name is Asriel."  
  
It was a while till Chara spoke up. "What's with the smoke?" Asriel perked up.  
  
"Well I can't use that much magic. What I can use is healing magic. Your a human, right?" Chara nodded. He continued. "I don't know too much about humans- no one does -so we Monsters can't heal sickness. You have bones and skin like us so-"  
  
They tuned him out. This was too much to take in right now. He stopped talking after a while. Chara saw a house in the distance. They were too tired to speak anymore, so they let Asriel help them up the steps and into the home.  
  
He seemed to sneak them inside and put them on what they assumed to be his bed. They didn't want to be a burden and tried to reach out, but their arm only lifted a couple of inches before dropping back down at their side.  
  
They fell asleep. They had nightmares about flowers.   


* * *

  
  
Chara woke up to the most pleasant smell that ever graced their nose. They opened their eyes groggily, looking at the nightstand. A piece of pie.  
  
They sat up. Chara took the plate and then a bite. It tasted like her dad's whiskey. Cinnamon-y, sweet, and felt nice as it went down. This, however, was more pleasurable than alcohol.  
  
Once theu had finished, they swung their feet over the bed. They looked around the room curiously before leaving.  
  
There was a hallway. Chara could hear talking. They followed the voices. They walked past some stairs and what looked like the entrance and into the living room.  
  
Asriel was sitting near the fireplace, drawing in a sketchbook. A big goat sat in one chair reading, and an even bigger one sat in a bigger chair sipping tea. "Oh, hello my child." The 2nd largest goat looked up from their book, smiling kindly and removing the glasses she was wearing and setting them on the armrest.   
  
Asriel set his book down and sprang up, running to Chara's side. He hugged them. He pulled away quickly. "You're awake!" He smiled happily. Asriel pointed to the largest goat. "That's my dad, Asgore. And my mom. They're the king and queen."  
  
Chara blinked in surprise. "Howdy, Chara." Asgore set his tea down on the small table in between the chairs. "Would you like some tea?"  
  
They frowned. "U-um, yes please." Asgore sat up from his chair and went onto what Chara assumed was the kitchen.  
  
"Hello, Chara." Toriel smiled kindly. "You're a human, correct?" They nodded. "Ah. I do not know how you got down here, but I suppose... do you wish to return to the Surface?"  
  
Chara's jaw dropped, befire the closed it. The clenched thier fists. "No. I _never_ want to go back there." Toriel cast a worried glance towards Asgore who stood in the doorway to the kitchen.  
  
"If you do not mind, you could stay with us." It went silent.

Chara looked at her. "Are you- are you serious?" They looked down. "I don't want to be a burden on you guys."

Asgore chuckled. "No suck thing! We insist." He carried a cuo of tea with him. He set it on the table. "Come and sit, Chara."

Chara did as instructed and sat at the table. They sipped the tea. Unlike the pie, it didn't feel the same. It felt like human tea going down their human throat into their human stomach. It was... relieving.

"Chara, you can stay with us. You'll be the best sibling." Asriel sat beside them. "I can show you the whole Underground-"

"Why?" Chara interrupted. "Why are you all being so nice to me?"


	3. Chapter 3: A Bit Of Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaaa, I didn't get everything done, but im working in headcannons here and there...

Their life was looking up.  
  
Asriel would take them to Snowdin, buying them Nice Cream and walking back to the Ruins. They would do that almost everyday. For once, Chara loved their life.  
  
Then they got sick. Of course, it was just a cold. Chara was used to it, and got over it quickly. They didn't tell Toriel or Asgore, only Asriel. He let them keep it a secret.  
  
"Hey, Azzy, what about going to Waterfall?" Chara and Asriel were sitting in one of the many empty houses in Snowdin. This was the biggest - and the completest - and they couldn't help but wonder who was moving in. They were sitting on the topmost floor, and Asriel was sitting amd reading on the main floor.  
  
"That sounds fun." Asriel shut his book, walking up the stairs and sitting on the top step with Chara. They were carving thier name in the top step. "Chara, you can't do that!"  
  
They stopped. They had "Char" written. "Azzy, cmon!" Asriel shook his head, and Chara groaned. "Fine, whatever, you baby." They stood, putting the knife in their back pocket. It was a small pocket knife someone had dropped. It washed up from Waterfall.  
  
"This isn't our house, Chara. We aren't even supposed to be in here."  
  
"We should leave." Chara agreed.  
  
They handed Asriel the knife, and he happily began catving his name. He put "Asre" to match theirs, and they left the house giggling.  
  
~  
  
"So why do you want to go to Waterfall?" Asriel asked, taking a bite out of his Nice Cream. Chara cringed, after attempting to bite the Nice Cream last time.  
  
"I want to see it." They beamed. "It says in one of M- Toriel's books that they have cool flowers, and that stuff washes down from the Surface. Also I heard that there's a fish family and they are really skilled in combat, and I want them to teach me!"  
  
"Woah, Chara." Asriel laughed. "First of all,  don't you hate the Surface? Second, I think you need to learn magic to be able to do monster stuff." He stuffed the wrapper in his pocket, while Chara tossed theirs behind themselves. Asriek scurried to pick it up.  
  
"I don't hate the Surface, I hate humans." Chara muttered. "The Surface is beautiful. Also, maybe you could teach me magic?"  
  
"Or Mom could do it. She's always wanted to be a teacher."  
  
Chara rubbed the back of their neck. As if they wanted to burden the Dreemurrs more than they already had. "How long until we get there?"  
  
~  
  
Everything seemed fine at first. Chara was exploring Waterfall and having fun, Asriel taking them to all the best spots. At one point they had found a Pokemon card, which was great. It was just a Turtwig, but they tucked it in their pocket and kept looking.  
  
Then they saw a box of pads.  
  
Quickly, they asked Asriel the date. Their cycle was never off, and when they heard that it was the 14th, they knew they would start. It didn't bring them that much disphoria - thier binder was optional, too - so it shouldn't be a problem. If they didn't have them at the market, they would use a towle or something.  
  
But what came after was worse. Asriel had found a pair of shoes that Chara could wear, despite thier dirty look, and they grabbed them happily. Thier old shoes didn't fit that well and-  
  
And then he coughed.  
  
At first, Chara kept walking. They looked back, and saw Asriel looking confused, so Chara walked back, casting him a confused look. "It's just a cough, your probably sick. Happens to humans all the... time..." Their mouth made an 'o', as in 'o shit'.  
  
"Chara, when monsters get sick, it affects out magic. Hardly ever do we cough or sneeze or..." He gulped, pacing. "Monsters are made of magic not, not human stuff. And if I'm human sick-"  
  
"Azzy."  
  
"-Mom can't cure it, because monsters don't know enough about human sickness-"  
  
"Asriel."  
  
"-or what it does to our body-"  
  
"ASRIEL!"  
  
He looked over, seeing Chara looking slightly annoyed. "Azzy, colds are normal. You'll get over it. Let's head back."  
  
~  
  
Once they had entered Snowdin, Asriel was worse. He was breathing heavy, and Chara could feel warmth radiating off him. He kept coughing and shivering. In their head, they knew what was happening. They just hoped Torel could do something about it. They focused, feeling the same burning when they had fallen. It was about a week ago, and they didn't  know what happened exactly, but thwy hoped they could do it again.  
  
They felt the pulse, and their soul glowed ominously from their shirt. Chara knew yhey weren't strong enough, but maybe...  
  
They picked Asriel up with ease, and begin running to the Ruins. The burning spread throughout their body, but it was much fainter than the last time.  
  
They had to hurry.  
  
~  
  
"There, did you see it?" Gaster pointed at the screen. "Just now, another pulse of Determination. Not as strong as last week, but its there... Alphys, did you see?"  
  
The small yellow reptile nodded quickly, writing down notes. "Y-yes, I did... but I don't understand. Determination is f-found in human souls, and we can't extract i-it-"  
  
"Alphys! You are a genius." Gaster sprung up. "No, we can't, but we can build something that can... we'll need an extra set of hands." He grabbed Alphys by the shoulders and plopped her down infront of the monitor. "If anything pops up, tell me, otherwise, don't contact me."  
  
Alphys may only be a child, but reptiles age extremely slow. They go into a comatose state for 50 years after their body tries to catch up. Gaster knew that Alphys should be hitting that time soon, he just hoped she would be able last.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Im back. Ill write and update this at least once a month, hopefully once a week.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Language, blood, self-harm.

Chara slept, sweat from running slick on their neck. They held his furry paw, head on his stomach. They had passed out on top of him after using that... thing inside them.

In their head, they were still there. But Chara wasn't at the same time, and they looked down on themselves slumped over Asriel. When they looked down on who they were currently, Chara was suprised to see that they were a little red heart.

They were confused. Chara remembered Asriel say something about a SOUL, bit they had never seen it. A realization struck them.

Were they dead?

As soom as the thoughy occured, their soul zipped into their body. They jumped, pale hands catching them when they fell on the floor with a loud thump.

They looked down at their hands. They were red and scratched and damn, Toriel really needed a carpet in here. They were about to go back to thinking about what just happened, but Toriel quickly picked them up and turned them around. She must have slipped in while Chara was sleeping.

"Are you okay, dear?" Toriel looked over Chara's battered hands. "Oh, oh my..."

Truth is, everytime they fell they never told anyone. Mostly they caught themselves, but that resulted in their hands being bruised and scarred. They didn't want to be a burden.

They slipped their hands out of Toriel's grasp. "I'm fine." Chara muttered. She didn't look convinced, however. Much to Chara's protest, she began healing their hands. They watched entranced, the green and gold wisp warming their skin and healing it. "Hey, Toriel?"

Toriel didn't look up. She made a 'hmm?' sound, so they continued.

"Why cant you heal Asriel?" Toriel stopped, her magic seeping back into her paws just as Chara was healed. They noticed their mistake and began to panic. "I mean-"

"I don't know what it is." Toriel cut them off, hanging her head. "It's not -- it isn't like a normal Monster sickness. It's not going after his magic its going after his body -- I can't fix it, I don't know how it works."

Chara stood semi-awkwardly, thinking. "What if I could?" Toriel gave a chuckle, to which they got slightly offended by. "What's so funny?"

"Humans haven't had magic in years, and the last time they did," Toriel stood up, shaking her head. "It wasn't good, dear."

"Listen," Chara crossed her arms. "I can help him. I know what the sickness is doing. If you won't teach me I'll learn myself, because all I've been is a burden to your family and killing my br-- er, Asriel would just make everything worse."

"You aren't a burden, my child-"

"That conversation can wait for another time," Toriel looked over to see Asgore un the doorway. He had pink pajama pants in with a white t-shirt with 'You goat to be kidding me!' In faded black letters. Chara would have laughed, but now wasn't the time. "Toriel-"

Toriel turned on the spot, shushing him. "Asgore, you know what happened last time a human who wasn't magic tried to use it." She almost growled at him. "I'm sorry, but no. I won't risk losing both of my children." She stormed out, dragging Asgore with her.

Chara clenched their hands into fists. If Toriel wasn't going to teach them, they would teach themselves.

Under their bed was one of the kitchen knives they had hidden. They were still paranoid, and kept it there just incase they were attacked. Or...well. They hadn't done that in a long time, but who else would they heal? Squeezing their eyes shut, they slashed.

They hadn't gone deep, but warm crimson blood bubbled and dripped down from their wrist. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was a bad idea -

Asriel. They were doing this for him.

They focused their right hand over their wrist, focusing on healing. They felt something,  but it wasn't enough. Cursing, they slashed again deeper, trying to trigger their SOUL to do something. It felt stronger, but they couldn't heal themselves. They were left with a heavily bleeding wrist and no results.

Chara laughed bitterly. Maybe deep, deep down they didn't want to heal themselves? It sounded like a good enough reason. Or maybe they were a faliure and should just plunge this knife-

Asriel coughed painfully and Chara could have swore she saw his body twitch.

They slipped their shirt off, wrapping it around their wrists. Darting over to his bed, she laid her hands on him. One on his chest, and one on his leg. They closed their eye, focusing. They had to heal him. They needed this.

They felt a warmth. Not on themselves, but on him. Their hands were glowing a calming red and gold tendrils of smoke seeped into him. Chara smiled, until the pain started.

It was white hit pain shooting through them, the epicenter being thier chest. They felt thier heart - or maybe it was their SOUL - thumping alarmingly. The shimmering gold grew weaker. Chara's vison grew spotty.

Asriel began to move. The pain faded. The last thing they felt was a thud.

~

Alphys had been with Gaster long. She could tell he was lazy. He would get an idea and half-ass it, leaving her to try and decipher his notes and finish it.

Despite what everyone else thought, he had little to no magic control. He was strong only when working, and even then his magic dwindled dangerously low.

Now she could read him like a book. She almost felt like a caretaker for him. He was smart, alarmingly so, and his sense of humor was mostly science based so she couldn't understand at first.

Needless to say, when she saw the spike of red on the monitor for the second time today, she knew Gaster would be thrown off guard. However when she traveled down into the 'True Lab' to tell him, she was suprised when she saw a skeleton tall as herself working with Gaster on some machine.

There was another machine that was nestled in the corner. It had another skeleton in a test tube full of blue, and she almost had a heart attack when she realized it was pure magic.

"Ah, Alphys!" The reptile was broken out of her trance and looked over to where Gaster leaned against a counter with papers scattered everywhere. "As you can see, I've made our first little helper-"

"G-gaster!" She frowned at him. A crack had appeared on one of his eye sockets. While that was concerning, Alphys couldn't shake a feeling of discomfort everytime she looked over at the skeleton who was currently working. "What is t-that?"

Gaster talked in an odd way. When he gestured for the skeleton, Alphys saw a small circle missing from his hand. "This is Papyrus. Right now he doesn't have a SOUL - he's just a husk I created. The other in the tube is Sans, who I am currently creating the SOUL for." He wobbled over to the tube. "That magic is mine. I was able to-"

"-take an amount of your magic and multiply it." Alphys finished. "You're creating a S-SOUL out of pure magic? What about their emotions?" Alphys cast a worried glance at the tube. "W-what if-"

Gaster cut her off. "It may be dangerous. It will take a while. Hell, I mey not even be alive by the time he's finished. After we finish this machine, I'll get to making Papyrus' SOUL. Half magic, half monster. A perfect SOUL."

Alphys looked over some blueprints. "Gaster, what is this?"

Gaster smiled and laid a hand in her shoulder. "I call it the Core."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im too lazy to proofread.


	5. Why I no longer work on this story

I'm not working on this anymore.

The story was terrible now that I look back on it, and I've lost all the work I had on this work.

So to everyone who left kudos, thank you, but it won't be worked on.

Sorry, lovelies! I may publish an Undertale story again if you think I should, and I will be working on a Homestuck work and a Markiplier x Jacksepticeye x Pewdiepie fanfic.

Stay determined.

-TF


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